{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/criminal-and-civil-legal-aid-amendment-regulations-2025/note",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/criminal-and-civil-legal-aid-amendment-regulations-2025/note.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/2025/750",
  "legislation_title": "The Criminal and Civil Legal Aid (Amendment) Regulations 2025",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/criminal-and-civil-legal-aid-amendment-regulations-2025",
  "path": "note",
  "kind": "note",
  "number": null,
  "heading": "Explanatory note",
  "text": "(This note is not part of the Regulations)\nThese Regulations amend the Civil Legal Aid (Procedure) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/3098), (“the Procedure Regulations”), the Civil Legal Aid (Financial Resources and Payment for Services) Regulations 2013 (S.I. 2013/480) (“the Civil Means Regulations”), the Criminal Legal Aid (General) Regulations 2013 (S.I. 2013/2790) (“the General Regulations”) and the Criminal Legal Aid (Financial Resources) Regulations 2013 (S.I. 2013/471) (“the Criminal Means Regulations”).\nThe Procedure Regulations make provision about the making and withdrawal of determinations that an individual qualifies for civil legal services under sections 9 and 10 of the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (c. 10) (“the Act”). Regulation 2 of these Regulations amends the Procedure Regulations to remove the requirement for contributions to be made. It removes the restrictions on the delegation by the Director of Legal Aid Casework (“the Director”) to legal aid providers in relation to issuing certificates recording determinations in relation to authorised representation, amending limitations or conditions to which determinations are subject, the withdrawal of determinations, and the ability to conduct a review in relation to authorised representation. Additionally this SI removes requirements on the Director to provide a copy of a certificate to an individual and a requirement that, if delegated to providers, a provider would have to notify themselves of a determination. They also amend the Procedure Regulations so that in relation to emergency representation, where following the provision of further information, the Director determines that an individual does not qualify for relevant legal services, such determination must be withdrawn. Previously the requirement was that such determination must be revoked.\nThe Civil Means Regulations make provision about the rules the Director must apply to determine whether an individual’s financial resources are such that they are eligible for civil legal services under Part 1 of the Act. These Regulations make a number of changes to the Civil Means Regulations which have the effect of removing the requirement for individuals to pay capital or income contributions in relation to civil legal aid.\nThe General Regulations make provision about the making and withdrawal of determinations that an individual qualifies for criminal legal services under Part 1 of the Act. Regulation 4 of these Regulations amends the General Regulations to provide that where a provider, authorised by the Director, either issues a representation order recording a determination or withdraws a determination, they are not required to send written notification of this to themselves. The amendments also provide that where a provider determines an individual is eligible for representation in proceedings in the magistrates’ court, or there is a review of either a provider’s determination that someone does not qualify for representation or withdrawal of a determination on interest of justice grounds, the commencement date of any subsequent representation order is the date the determination was made by the provider. It further excludes providers from the requirement to also determine that an individual is financially eligible for representation in the Crown Court where they have made a determination in the same proceedings that an individual is financially eligible for representation in the magistrates’ court.\nThe Criminal Means Regulations make provision for the rules the Director must apply to determine whether an individual’s financial resources are such that the individual is eligible for criminal legal services under Part 1 of the Act. Regulation 5 of these Regulations amends the Criminal Means Regulations to prevent a provider who issues a representation order recording a determination from being required to send written notification of this to themselves.\nRegulation 6 of these regulations sets out transitional provisions. The effect of the transitional provisions is to apply these Regulations to ongoing cases where civil or criminal legal aid has already been made available. They also ensure that, where an individual has received a determination that they qualify for civil legal aid before these Regulations come into force and that determination is subject to the making of contributions, that from the date these Regulations come into force, any such contributions will be waived. Further, these regulations will not apply in circumstances where an individual has already received civil legal aid services, subject to a contribution, and seeks to withdraw that determination and re-apply under the new provisions in relation to the same legal matter, nor will the waiver of contributions set out in regulation 6(2) apply to such cases. Finally, these transitional provisions ensure that where providers have been unable to submit applications for representation under section 16 of the Act for determination by the Legal Aid Agency, any determinations made after 27th June 2025 will be backdated to either 7th May 2025 or the date the individual instructed the provider to make an application, whichever is the later.\nA full impact assessment has not been prepared for this instrument because of the estimated low impact of these operational changes on the public sector. A review of potential impacts has been included within the Explanatory Memorandum which is published alongside this instrument (on www.legislation.gov.uk).",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/750/note",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-28T21:14:20.286684+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}